Mike Riversdale

I have no idea what it is about this roof, I took way too many photos trying to capture the autumnal colours of the tiles. Sometimes something just captures you in the moment eh.

I recall a stack of tweets, blog posts, and even a book, Antibiotic Resistance: The End Of Modern Medicine?  (2017) ,  from Associate Professor Siouxsie Wiles , yes her of the red hair, a researcher and science communicator based at Auckland University. The messages she was sending out were disturbing and bloody scary. Not only do Baym's experiments show how quickly antimicrobial resistance can emerge, they beautifully illustrate the power of selection: mutants survive when they have an advantage. And what better way to have an advantage than when antimitochondrials are present? In other words, antimitochondrial use drives resistance. [Note: Whilst Wiles book is an excellent intro to the subject, clear and concise, it is particularly excellent reading for everyone in Aotearoa New Zealand as she highlights what it means to each and every Kiwi.] In essence the bugs, and by that I mean bacteria not viruses, are getting immune to antibiotics which means we may end up back in Medieval

Even the workers, the existers, the rough and the ready need a rainbow in their life.

The perfect throw away Christmas card.  "I suppose we'd better send something to Carol's son as well, I know but it's best if we do coz she'll remember Meg, yeah my nephew, um, Charlie that's his name, lovely lad actually, and ... oh god, we went to the wedding, what is her name, we better not write his first wife's name, um, nope, it's gone, 'his wife', that'll do."

Hundreds of years ago, a man named Tara founded the first permanent human settlement in Wellington. The city still bears his name: Te Whanganui a Tara. But what do we actually know about him? And so starts the excellent The first Wellingtonian Spinoff article ... have a read, go on, edjumikate yourself 😁 As an aside, here's a list of names for the harbour / city: Te Whanganui-a-Tara (the great harbour of Tara) Wellington Harbour  (see below) Port Nicholson (after Sydney's harbour master Captain John Nicholson) Pōneke (said to be a transliteration of Port Nick) Wellington (from Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington) Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui (the head of Maui’s fish)

They chatted and chatted, was lovely. * Pepperpots, Monty Python "There is a particular type of middle-aged woman who uses irritation as a way of life. It's the only thing she's really good at. She's roughly this shape...[outlines a round, convex shape] like a pepperpot...A Pepperpot's life's ambition is to be in the audience at a quiz show. She is to be found in shopping areas blocking the pavement, tormenting babies, spreading rumours, and spending a fortune on bargains. She enjoys worrying, and being shocked. Individually, she is intolerable. In a group, horrific."

Now, the thing is, maybe I don't own your phone, but I might, and I absolutely could, and you wouldn't know. Nope, I don't need to have physically touched your phone. I don't need to have convinced you or to stealthy have placed anything onto your phone. I could still be owning your phone. Your phone calls would come to me, you SMS/text one off codes to log into your Gmail, or Facebook, or whatever else you get your text codes for. Once I'm in then ... well, watch the video and be amazed. So, you've watched the video the question I had, and still have is, um, oh, now what? Use an authenticator app, Turn your phone off / on at least once a month. That seems about it, let's hope I'm not owning your phone right now, but how would you know!?!?

Living your life to it's best has always been a thing for me, however it's only recently it's surfaced to my consciousness. That's why I'm now blogging about, LOL Courtney Dauwalter: Step inside the 'pain cave', where rules are remade I don't know this woman, the sport itself is out of my realm of knowledge, and even reading her story I'm only mildly interested ... until the end, I love how she has battled and survived and is now totally thriving. "I'll just head out in the morning and run however far I feel," says Dauwalter. In a world of disciplined, straight-faced sports in which athletes ditch the joy in pursuit of marginal gains, Dauwalter often has the air of an adult who never grew out of her skateboarder phase.  "I want to eat and drink what sounds good. I want to hang with family and friends, and I want to sign up for these 100 or 200-mile races and push myself as hard as I can," she says  [..] "My husband and I

It seems to be always time for a haircut, hence my question recently. In Monmouth there is only one barber that one frequents, and that's Sid's, no sorry, that's Dave's , no it's actually Paddy's these days. I can just about recall Sid, he was funny, round (I think), a bit like a 1960's end of pier comedian ... that's probably doing him an awful injustice. His apprentice at the time was Dave Willet and he became the man who did the hair for the lads and gents. It was always a place that Mums would take their boys for their haircuts. On my visit to Monmouth last year and after saving all the hair for the Iceland trip it was definitely time to have it shaved off, so down to Sid/Dave/Paddy I went. It hasn't changed, but it is more modern, love how Paddy has done that. PS: I was also getting my facial hair removed, much to chagrin of my girlfriend. Luckily she was in New Zealand and so it grew back just in time 😁

Sausages.  I used to think the only things I missed from the UK were sausages but the sausage situation in Aotearoa New Zealand has improved vastly. Then I went back to Wales last year, during the Northern hemisphere winter and I have found my replacement for sausages. Christmas colours . In the dark. I really like the twinkling of lights, the colours of decorations, and the full on festive mood people apply to the dark, rainy, icky weather outside.

December on a late Monday afternoon in Wales, the rain sets in, the shops are warm, and the Christmas lights come on.

Gotta share these two with ya 😁 More great WiFi names here , here , and here .